WOW, Rob!
How is Roger doing these days?
Well, his riffs on Barracuda were like listening to the album. His longtime girlfriend was there and during a break I told her I was surprised to see her there because “band wives/girlfriends” lose interest. She said something along the lines of “he doesn’t do this much any more”.
Regarding his general playing, it fits in with my attitude about pop music in general, which is about “luck”.
Heck, I’m just finishing Clapton’s autobiography and one thing is very clear: If he had been born 20 years later he would not have amounted to much. That was a rare and singular time in music history (60’s) for a guitar player to get famous solely on playing ability. And for every “star” there are thousands of more talented musicians that just didn’t get the breaks.
A good example would be Doyle Bramhall II. He’s just trying to make ends meet. Yet he is mentioned several times in Clapton’s book and plays on the Roger Waters DVD recorded at Portland. He’s amazing, but he was born too late to make real money at it.